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We've compiled the best of the best in USA - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Arguably the best place to buy fragrance in Manhattan, this lovely-smelling boutique's superknowledgeable staff help shoppers find the perfect scent. High-end (and predominantly European) brands like L'Artisan Parfumeur and Astier de Villatte are stocked, along with luxurious skin-care products, pricey candles, and room diffusers.
A must for perfume lovers, this store has been creating fragrances since 1931. Scented oils, soaps, sachets, and potpourri have been made on-site for four generations and are sold all over the world. There are dozens of fragrances for men and women, as well as bath salts, anti-aging treatments, massage and body oils, antique shaving and dressing-table accessories, and new and antique perfume bottles.
A heavy, iron-barred door leads to a hushed, scented inner sanctum of beauty products. At this U.S. outpost of the 600-year-old Florentine company, shoppers can browse intriguingly archaic perfumes, colognes, creams, and soaps such as rose rice powder, prepared according to both traditional and modern recipes. Everything is packaged in bottles and jars with antique-style apothecary labels. If you prefer to perfume your home rather than your body, there are candles and sachets as well.
Customize lotions, massage oils, and bath salts with more than 100 essential and eau de parfum–grade fragrance oils during a 40–60 minute, perfumer-led Scent Creation session in this beauty boutique. Every customer-created formula is stored in an online database, so reordering your new trademark aroma is a breeze. If you'd like some liquid inspiration to fuel your creativity, the shop permits BYOB (no hard alcohol).
The ethos at Bond No. 9 is unique, with scents intended to evoke places and social values. Hence "The Scent of Peace" as well as a line that matches key NYC neighborhoods: "Central Park," traditionally a men's fragrance, is woodsy and "green," while "Park Avenue" is discreet but not too sweet. There's "Greenwich Village" and "Off-Broadway," just to name a few others. This flagship also carries candles and body creams.
Opened in 1843, this old world–style shop offers about three-dozen fragrances for men and women, including a 200-year-old formula for men's cologne. It will custom-blend perfumes for individuals based on assessments of body chemistry, personality, and scent preferences. The shop also sells perfume bottles and toiletries.
Follow your nose for a sniff and a spritz of high-end French perfumes. Guerlain fragrances, cosmetics, and skin-care products like the Orchidée Impériale eye cream (most recently selling for a whopping $200 apiece) draw fans from around the globe.
In both its design and its products, the first D.C. brick-and-mortar location of this French-influenced New York perfumerie reflects the cool, indie vibe of the Shaw neighborhood. Preferring "soulful fragrances" to everyday perfumes, Le Labo's manifesto is to create luxurious, handcrafted, non-animal-tested scents for "passionate souls." Visit this unique shop, and take a whiff of bestsellers like Santal 33, Rose 31, Bergemote 22, and Thé Noir 29.
Commemorate your time in Boston by bringing home a signature scent. At this new scent studios on Newbury Street, you can explore nine core fragrances and then work with a scent expert to customize your very own blend with added notes. Name your new fragrance creation, choose your bottle, and suddenly your time in the city makes more scents (pun intended).
Finding your signature fragrance at this sleek Abbot Kinney boutique won't come cheap, but perfumer Alexandra Balahoutis takes creating her scents as seriously as a seasoned winemaker—and they're just as nuanced as a well-balanced glass of vino. Essences for the perfumes are organic, wild crafted, biodynamic, and bottled locally. Highlights from SI's core collection include the cacao-spiked Dimanche and leathery Black Rosette.
Carrying a unique collection of high-end perfumes, lotions, diffusers, scented candles, and even Mariage Frères teas, this upscale shop is an abiding favorite among discriminating Castro noses. Shop clerks are knowledgeable and can suggest the perfect gift for yourself or any lucky recipient.
